I think that there are no populations in the world who would give way to IS like they did in Iraq and Syria. IS is in consolidation and fortification mode. They know that the full weight of the ISF and Peshmerga backed by air power are going to come down on them in Mosul and they need to be prepared. The end of February is going to start a very bloody chapter of this conflict.

Edit: Don't confuse their inability to expand as an inability to grow though.

[In a bold yet little-reported speech, The President of Egypt has directly confronted Islamic leaders in his country and challenged them to stand against extremism in their religion.

"We are in need of a religious revolution," President Abdel-Fattah el-Sisi told imams on New Years Day at al-Azhar University in Cairo. The speech commemorated the birthday of the Prophet Muhammad.

"You, imams, are responsible before Allah," el-Sisi said. "The entire world … is waiting for your next move … because [the Islamic world] is being torn, it is being destroyed, it is being lost — and it is being lost by our own hands."]

That is pretty typical speech from "secular" Arab governments. You see the same thing out of Jordan where there are laws against radical preaching. It's a shame Sisi can't go back in time and disappear Sayyid Qutb before he could write Milestones.

Tell me who is your enemy and I will tell you who you are.
Assad's enemies are batshit Islamist organisations plus USA with theri freedumb. That makes Syria with Assad a better option than Syria without Assad. The End.